Sunday, May 20th, 2012

Could a mandatory E-Verify bill make it past Obama?

By
Tuesday, November 09, 2010 at 4:30 pm

Most immigration legislation is expected to stall next legislative session, as a heavily pro-enforcement House attempts to get bills past a president and Senate leadership that prefer a more comprehensive approach. Some of the measures proposed by Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), who will most likely head the subcommittee on immigration, seem almost certain to fail: An anti-birthright citizenship bill, for example, would almost certainly be voted down in the Senate if it passes the House due to strong opposition from Democrats.

Will it be possible for House Republicans to get any immigration bills signed into law? No one is quite sure, but over the next few days I’ll be looking at some of the bills that pro-enforcement and pro-immigration reform groups think stand a chance. First on the list: an expansion of E-Verify, a controversial program that allows employers to use their workers’ Social Security numbers to verify that they can legally work in the United States.

Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), who is expected to lead the Judiciary Committee, co-sponsored a bill in the current session to make use of E-Verify mandatory for all employers. The program is already mandatory for federal agencies and their contractors, but Republicans have said E-Verify should be expanded nationwide to better prevent undocumented workers from finding work.

Mark Krikorian, executive director of the pro-enforcement Center for Immigration Studies, told TWI that an expansion of the employment verification program could be passed in an effort by Democrats to show their commitment to immigration enforcement.

“I could see the administration deciding they need to back [mandatory E-Verify] to show their bona fides on enforcement so they can make a more conceivable case for amnesty in the future,” Krikorian said, referring to Obama’s support for paths to legal status for some of the illegal immigrants already in the country. “It undercuts the criticisms of the president as opposing enforcement and strengthens his hand for a possible second term.”

Of course, the Obama administration has already stepped up its immigration enforcement, sending more troops to the border and increasing deportation levels. Democrats may be unwilling to go further due to reported problems with E-Verify, said Grisella Martinez, director of policy and legislative affairs at the pro-reform National Immigration Forum.

Critics of the program say it contains flukes that allow some undocumented immigrants to escape detection and deny some legal workers employment. The Social Security Administration reportedly has an error rate of more than 4 percent in the databases E-Verify uses to check legal status. Critics in the business community say E-Verify puts unfair burdens on human resource departments that will have to be trained to use the program.

The projected high cost of implementing E-Verify nationwide could also deter Senate Democrats and Obama from supporting a bill. The Congressional Budget Office reported in 2008 that mandating E-Verify use could decrease federal revenues by about $17.3 billion between 2009 and 2018. Many experts say employers would still have a demand for labor from illegal immigrants, who in some sectors are likely to accept work that legal Americans often do not. E-Verify would therefore starve the government of tax dollars through a huge increase in the number of undocumented workers being paid untaxed wages under the table.

“I don’t think mandating E-Verify without a legalization program is possible,” Martinez said. “If it were to occur, we’d be looking at a real economic tailspin. Numerous government reports have all pointed to the fact that to mandate a program like E-Verify without legalizing the workers who are already in our economy would be absolutely catastrophic.”

Follow Elise Foley on Twitter


Categories & Tags: Congress| Immigration| | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

Comments

15 Comments

Tweets that mention Could a mandatory E-Verify bill make it past Obama? « The Washington Independent -- Topsy.com
Pingback posted November 9, 2010 @ 5:20 pm

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Cary D Conover, Elise Foley. Elise Foley said: Could a mandatory E-Verify bill make it past Obama? http://bit.ly/aKcvid [...]

Slash
Comment posted November 9, 2010 @ 10:24 pm

Mark Krikorian, the party of no's and all em' teabaggers are so full of horse crap. The Dems came up with a good proposal where those here and already a part of our society, register, pay a fine, pay back taxes, pass a background check, learn english, secure the borders, enforce e-verify, go to the back of the line and have a electronic/biometric/iris SS/National Id's issued.

Is it a joke to move 15-20 million people back to where they came from ? Politics is one thing, but to even mention something that is so unrealistic or merely impossible to execute is absolutely retarded. To deport on a case to case basis will take 50 years or to mass deport in large numbers, we might have to use the GOP/Teabageers homes to hold them prior to being shipped back.

Fool the people for your votes but shame on your illogical ideals.

HernandezUSA
Comment posted November 9, 2010 @ 10:50 pm

No Amnesty.

E-verify is not a burden, but a common sense Idea to force business owners to stop hiring illegals.

moncler jackets
Comment posted November 10, 2010 @ 6:28 am

good article

Antibirther
Comment posted November 10, 2010 @ 2:09 pm

An anti-birthright citizenship bill, for example, would almost certainly be voted down in the Senate if it passes the House due to strong opposition from Democrats.

Even more importantly, such a law would be ruled unconstitutional by the courts.

lipstickonapig
Comment posted November 10, 2010 @ 5:28 pm

If the gay AMERICAN CITIZENS are still being denied their equal rights, the spineless criminals will not get amnesty, period.

You want to see Thunderdome 2010? Start giving rights to criminals while America's gay children are still being treated like subhuman trash. What could possibly go wrong with pardoning criminals while the citizens suffer?

DelawareBob
Comment posted November 10, 2010 @ 5:52 pm

Illegal aliens are destroying this Country, and one would have to be almost blind not to see this. How much longer do we have to support these illegal aliens? How much longer do we have to school their illegal alien children? How much longer are we going to let them have our jobs? How much longer are we going to put up with all the crime, stolen identities, forged documents, fake green cards? How much longer are we going to allow these illegal aliens to send money out of this Country and bring our Country down? Oh, amnesty will correct all this. WRONG! Nothing will change except we wouldn't be able to call them illegal aliens any more. Let's get rid of these illegal aliens! Let's get them back to their own Country where they belong!

Ending this birthright citizenship would be a FANTASTIC step in ending this illegal immigration and save the American taxpayers BILLIONS every year!

Anonymous
Comment posted November 13, 2010 @ 8:32 pm

E-Verify should be required to check ALL jobs in the US, currently held and future hires. I’d give employers 1 year to check all existing employees, and 1 month to begin checking any new hires. Any politician who is sincere about enforcement will help implement this. No exceptions, no whiners. And employers who have illegal alien employees deserve any disruptive or negative effects this would cause.

Keep up the pressure on Washington. They in general would rather us forget about E-Verify.

Anonymous
Comment posted November 13, 2010 @ 8:34 pm

The illegal aliens would move themselves out of the country. It’s the point of workplace enforcement. It would be the single biggest deterrent to people thinking of illegally moving to the Unites States. We know from the one-time only legalization program of 1986 that legalization only encourages a much greater number of people to come here illegally. E-Verify would stop that to a great extent.

Anonymous
Comment posted November 13, 2010 @ 8:36 pm

Oh, and by the way, the back of the line is in the home country, not in the US. Fines and taxes mean nothing to someone with the goal of breaking into our country. The only thing that really matters is whether they are in the US, or not.

john
Comment posted November 16, 2010 @ 6:11 am

most illegal workers pay their taxes.and they are not lazy like you..

Anonymous
Comment posted November 16, 2010 @ 6:40 am

It doesn’t matter much in taxes illegal aliens pay. They are illegally and should not be earning any amount. The job they hold has been stolen from a legal worker. They also bid down wages.

Emma
Comment posted November 20, 2010 @ 7:38 pm

Mandatory E-verify is fine as long as it is combined with simultaneous legalization of the undocumented immigrants who are here. Otherwise, it will just be a “smoke them out like rats” plan that many Republicans favor.

Spiceren
Comment posted April 17, 2011 @ 2:50 pm

wholoesale replica handbags over the world, our knockoff handbags are all the top quality imitation Purses,only $60 for cheap designer handbags or replica handbags at http://www.handbagcn.com.
knockoff bags replica bags designer handbags 3.1 Phillip Lim Replica Handbags Replica Alexander Wang Handbags balenciaga knockoff handbagsbottega veneta imitation Purses burberry imitation Purses chanel replica handbags chloe knockoff bags christian dior imitation Purses coach knockoff wallets dolce gabbana knockoff bags fendi replica handbags givenchy knockoff handbags gucci replica handbags hermes knockoff handbags jimmy choo replica handbags lancel imitation Purses louis vuitton replica handbags marc jocabs replica handbags miumiu fake bags mulberrp replica handbags prada knockoff handbags Proenza Schouler replica handbags Samantha thavasa knockoff bags thomas wylde replica handbags valention replica handbags versace knockoff handbags replica designer wallets ysl imitation Purses
Louis Vuitton Kalahari PM M97000
, Louis Vuitton M97001, Louis Vuitton m96363, Louis Vuitton Suhali Leather L’Absolu M95850
, Louis Vuitton M95843 Suhali Leather L’Essentiel, Louis Vuitton Suhali Leather Lockit MM m91876, louis vuitton damier canvas naviglio n45255, louis vuitton n41523 damier canvas speedy 35, louis vuitton n41535 damier azur speedy 35, louis vuitton n42221 damier azur stresa pm, louis vuitton n51108 damier azur canvas neverfull gm, louis vuitton n51262 totally damier azur mm, quality replica n41533 louis vuitton damier azur speedy 30, louis vuitton m93226 damier geant canvas messager, louis vuitton m93077 damier géant canvas loup, louis vuitton m93224 damier géant canvas citadin nm, louis vuitton n62667 black damier graphite iphone case, quality replica louis vuitton n51213 damier graphite canvas renzo, louis vuitton m45257 monogram canvas abbesses messenger bag, louis vuitton m45713 monogram canvas boétie gm, louis vuitton m62667 monogram canvas blackberry case large, louis vuitton monogram canvas artsy gm m40259, louis vuitton monogram canvas galliera gm m56381, louis vuitton monogram canvas porte valeurs organizer m61823, louis vuitton m40144 monogram canvas tivoli gm, louis vuitton m40146 monogram canvas palermo gm, louis vuitton m40156 monogram canvas neverfull mm, louis vuitton m40249 monogram canvas artsy mm, louis vuitton m40352 monogram canvas new diraitofuru pm, louis vuitton m40354 monogram canvas diraitofuru gm, louis vuitton m41453 monogram etoile city bag gm

RSS feed for comments on this post.

Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.